We are an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the history, culture and true lives of Romani people worldwide.
We confront racism and oppression wherever we encounter it.
We try to make connections with all the "isms" that make up western culture.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SELMA ALABAMA

FROM CHANGE.ORG

In
Selma, Alabama, a monument to the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan is under
construction on public land.

The statue of
Confederate General Nathan Forrest -- infamous as the first Grand WIzard of the
Klan and for massacring black Union soldiers at the Civil War battle of Fort
Pillow -- even has the blessing of the Selma City Council.

Selma is home
to some of the most important events of the Civil Rights Movement -- including
"Bloody Sunday," when 600 activists fighting for African-American voting rights
were attacked by state and local police.

Unless the city council stops it, a
"bigger and better than ever" monument will be constructed to honor Nathan
Bedford Forrest. A group called Friends of Forrest built the original
monument, and now the group is planning to lay concrete for a new foundation,
add a new bust of the KKK founder, enclose the monument in a wrought iron gate,
and add night lighting.

Malika
Sanders-Fortier is a community leader in Selma, and when she heard about the
plan for the monument she was outraged. Malika is proud of her city's place in
history, and she thinks that monuments celebrating violent racism and
intolerance have no place in this country, let alone in a city like Selma, where
the families of those attacked by the Klan still live.

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FLAG OF THE ROMA

LOLO DIKLO : RrOMANI AGAINST RACISM

Lolo Diklo : Rromani Against Racism is an organization dedicated to providing information about the true situation of the Romani (Gypsies) in the world today. We are committed to confronting racism and oppression wherever it is found.

BACKGROUND

The Romani are a people who are not very well known. We are an ethnic group of people originally from India. We left India and arrived in Europe sometime in the 1300's. There are many theories as to why we left India. This is the work of academics, and we have some. Most Romani are more concerned about daily survival to worry about documentation of our past. We know who we are.

What is known about the Romani is, for the most part, stereotypically based. We are portrayed as romantic, carefree wonderers or child stealers, pick pockets and beggers.

Today the Romani of Europe face the same discrimination they have faced for centuries.